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[bajaman]

I want to use the domain liftandsnatch.com for a weightlifting blog. However, there is a non for profit weightlifting club that already exists called lift and snatch which i am coincidentally a member of. Is it fine for me.to.use that domain name for my blog or even brand name? Thanks for any info.

[Zonath]

First off, this really belongs in either the trademark or the domain name forum.

That said, your club might have some trademark rights in its name, and you may be infringing upon that trademark by using it for your own purposes.  At the very least, "lift and snatch" seems like a fairly descriptive name for a weightlifting club, and if the club hasn't been around for a very long time, it may not have accumulated any kind of secondary meaning around its name, such that it would be accorded much trademark protection.  It's also possible that the weightlifting club hasn't been using the name as a trademark or service mark in any way, so wouldn't have any sort of right to stop others from using it.  Additionally, even if there were some trademark protection for a 'lift and snatch' weightlifting club, there may not be a substantial risk of confusion between your blog and the weightlifting club.  Even so, without knowing your situation, I wouldn't venture to say either way whether or not trademark infringement would be likely in your situation.

In general, I would just counsel against using a name you know is already in use unless the name is just really very much generic.  I'd say this would go double if you're actually associated in some way with the entity or person who is using the name before you. 

[bajaman]

Sorry about that. I really have no experience with trademarks or copyrights so I wouldn't know which forum to post in :?

Thanks a lot for the info. I'll probably just settle with something similar to that name for a website just for peace of mind.

[OMG IP]

Sorry about that. I really have no experience with trademarks or copyrights so I wouldn't know which forum to post in :?

Thanks a lot for the info. I'll probably just settle with something similar to that name for a website just for peace of mind.

Be careful.  The legal standard for confusion is not "exactly the same" -- "something similar" could certainly fall within the realm of confusion.

[Peetwing]

Sorry about that. I really have no experience with trademarks or copyrights so I wouldn't know which forum to post in :?

Thanks a lot for the info. I'll probably just settle with something similar to that name for a website just for peace of mind.

Isn't it better for your business to create some new logic, motto, name? Be unique and people won't mess you with outher sites.